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United States Patent |
5,774,804
|
Williams
|
June 30, 1998
|
Remote activation of mobile telephone by paging channel phantom numbers
Abstract
In a system of multiple radiotelephones, such as mobile telephones, wherein
each of the telephones is operative with a paging channel by which a
calling number is applied to the telephones enabling the respective
telephones to respond to their respective channels, the paging channel is
utilized for activating individual ones of the telephones. A set of
calling numbers is reserved and not employed for calling numbers, but is
stored within a memory of each of the telephones. The reserved calling
numbers serve as a glossary for encoding words of a command message to be
transmitted via the paging channel, and also enable a decoding at each
telephone of the encoded message. The command message supplies a
designated calling number to a specified one of the mobile telephones, the
specified telephone being identified by its electronic serial number.
Inventors:
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Williams; Ian C. (Hampshire, GB2)
|
Assignee:
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Nokia Mobile Phones Limited (Salo, FI)
|
Appl. No.:
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627371 |
Filed:
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April 4, 1996 |
Current U.S. Class: |
455/419; 455/410 |
Intern'l Class: |
H04Q 007/00 |
Field of Search: |
455/419,410,418,403,551,550
340/825.34
380/23
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
5046082 | Sep., 1991 | Zicker et al. | 455/410.
|
5073932 | Dec., 1991 | Yossifor et al. | 455/410.
|
5109403 | Apr., 1992 | Sutphin | 455/419.
|
5155860 | Oct., 1992 | McClure | 455/89.
|
5233656 | Aug., 1993 | Langrand et al. | 380/23.
|
5276729 | Jan., 1994 | Higuchi et al. | 455/564.
|
5297191 | Mar., 1994 | Gerszberg | 455/419.
|
5297192 | Mar., 1994 | Gerszberg | 455/419.
|
5343494 | Aug., 1994 | Averst et al. | 375/1.
|
5455863 | Oct., 1995 | Brown et al. | 455/410.
|
5608723 | Mar., 1997 | Felsenstein | 455/410.
|
Foreign Patent Documents |
2 249 923 | May., 1992 | GB.
| |
WO 92/17943 | Oct., 1992 | WO.
| |
Other References
"Digital Opens the Door to Over-the-Air Activation", J. Carden, Cellular
Business, Jan. 1994, pp. 50&52.
|
Primary Examiner: Bost; Dwayne D.
Assistant Examiner: Legree; Tracey M.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Perman & Green, LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for activating remotely a telephone, in a system of multiple
telephones, the method comprising steps of:
establishing a glossary of phantom calling numbers reserved only for
encoding words of a command message, the command message providing a
calling number for activation of a specific telephone of the system;
transmitting by the specific telephone a request message identifying an
electronic serial number of the specific telephone and requesting a
calling number for the specific telephone;
in response to the request message, providing a calling number designated
for the specific telephone, the designated calling number differing from
the phantom numbers of the glossary;
constructing the command message with the electronic serial number of the
specific telephone, and including within the command message, the
designated calling number of the telephone;
encoding the command message with numbers from the glossary of phantom
calling numbers to provide an encoded command message;
communicating the encoded command message to the multiple telephones of the
system;
decoding the command message by each of the multiple telephones; and
activating the specific telephone, identified by its electronic serial
number, by installing the designated calling number in the specific
telephone.
2. A method according to claim 1 wherein said telephones are mobile
telephones, and said transmitting step is accomplished via a control
channel of the specific telephone.
3. A method according to claim 1 wherein said communicating step is
accomplished via a paging channel of the specific telephone.
4. A method for activating a mobile telephone by transmitting to the mobile
telephone a command message providing a calling number designated for the
mobile telephone, wherein the mobile telephone is part of a radiotelephone
system having multiple telephones communicating via wireless telephone
communication links, wherein said communication links include a paging
channel operative with calling numbers to which individual ones of said
multiple telephones are responsive, the multiple telephones having
respective electronic serial numbers for identifying the respective
telephones, the method comprising the steps of:
establishing a glossary of calling numbers reserved only for encoding words
of a command message, the command message providing a calling number for a
specific mobile telephone of the system, the calling number differing from
numbers of the glossary;
constructing the command message with the electronic serial numbers of the
specific mobile telephone, and including within the command message a
designated calling number of the specific telephone;
encoding the command message with numbers from the glossary calling numbers
to provide an encoded command message; and
activating the specific telephone, identified by its electronic serial
number, by communicating the encoded command message to the multiple
telephones, and by installing the designated calling number in the
specific mobile telephone.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the remote activation of mobile telephones by
communication of an activation command from a central station, and, more
particularly, to the encoding of a command message by use of a set of
phantom numbers of a paging channel to which the telephone is responsive.
Mobile telephones are widely used today. Utilization of such a telephone
involves a two-step procedure wherein, as a first step, a user acquires a
telephone by buying or leasing the telephone from a dealer. This usually
requires a trip to the dealer to receive the telephone. As a second step
of the procedure, the user of the telephone must then have the telephone
activated whereby the telephone is assigned a telephone number from a
cellular telephone service. Receipt of the telephone calling number has
required two-way communication between the user and the telephone service
company, wherein authentication of sale or lease of the telephone is
ascertained with the aid of an electronic serial number (ESN) built into
the telephone at the time of manufacture.
A problem arises in that the foregoing two-step procedure is unduly
cumbersome. Once a user has acquired his telephone, it would be desirable
to have the calling number assignment done automatically, such as by
electronic communication with a central station. However, such
communication is impeded by the fact that mobile telephones do not
normally have two-way communication with a central station prior to
activation of the telephone.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The foregoing problem is overcome and other advantages are provided, in
accordance with the invention, by an activation system for a mobile
telephone. It is observed that a mobile telephone can receive signals of
the paging channel, even in the absence of assignment of a calling number
to the telephone. Thus, a mobile telephone receives the paging channel
signal including all of the calling numbers which are broadcast. The
existing calling number detection circuitry, upon activation of the
telephone, identifies an incoming calling number by comparison with its
own assigned reference calling number. In the prior art, if no calling
number has been assigned to the telephone, the paging numbers are ignored,
and no two-way communication is initiated between the mobile telephone and
the central station.
However, in accordance with the invention, the capacity for the paging
channel of an unactivated telephone to receive the calling numbers
provides the opportunity for reception of a message from the central
station. This is accomplished by encoding individual words of the message
with an alphabet of which individual letters are represented by a set of
calling numbers which are reserved for this purpose and are not assigned
to any mobile telephone and are not employed for calling a telephone for
initiating communication. This set of calling numbers may be referred to
as phantom calling numbers. The existing calling number detection
circuitry is used, prior to activation of the telephone, in accordance
with the invention, for comparing the individual incoming calling numbers
with each of the set of phantom calling numbers. The same set of phantom
calling numbers is previously stored within a memory of each of the mobile
telephones of the telephone system. The set of the phantom numbers is
employed to represent respective alphabet characters for construction of
words to be transmitted in an activation command message transmitted from
the central station over the paging channel to the mobile telephone.
In order to activate the mobile telephone, a signal is transmitted by the
mobile telephone to the central station requesting activation. The
telephone transmits its ESN and, possibly, other data such as credit card
information, if desired. A computer at the central station, or in
communication with the central station via a telephone link, can then
verify that the phone has been appropriately sold or leased, and that the
credit details are on record. The telephone company provides the stored
phantom numbers to the computer to enable the computer to develop the
alphabet for transmission of the message. Thereupon, the computer
communicates via a wireless telephone link to the mobile station for
down-loading the specific number to be used as the calling number
identifying the mobile station.
The invention is advantageous in that the procedure for establishing the
calling number of the mobile telephone can be accomplished automatically.
By way of example, a user of the telephone may simply plug in the charger
for charging the battery. In response thereto, the telephone initiates the
foregoing sequence of steps beginning with the transmission to the central
station of the signal requesting the calling number. Thus, a user of the
mobile telephone has been totally freed from the tasks involved in the
establishment of the calling number of the telephone.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The aforementioned aspects and other features of the invention are
explained in the following description, taken in connection with the
accompanying drawing figures, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telephone system wherein mobile telephones
are activated in accordance with the invention;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing details of a mobile telephone of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the steps in carrying out the procedure of
the invention; and
FIG. 4 is a chart showing the composition of words of a command message
sent to mobile telephones for activating the telephone.
Identically labeled elements appearing in different ones of the figures
refer to the same element in the different figures but may not be
referenced in the description for all figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 shows a telephone system 10 providing communication among many
telephones 12, three of which are shown by way of example. The system 10
provides a process for activation of the telephones 12 in accordance with
the invention. Typically, the telephones 12 are radiotelephones or mobile
telephones interconnected via a central station 14. In the activation
process, individual ones of the telephones 12 are provided with respective
calling numbers. The activation is accomplished by use of an activation
unit 16 which is shown separate from the central station 14 but, if
desired, may be located at the same site with the central station 14. It
is noted that while the invention is most useful for the activation of
wireless mobile telephones communicating by radio to the central station
14, the invention can also be implemented with telephones connected by
electric wires or fiber optic links to the central station 14.
The telephones 12, for purposes of explaining the invention, are assumed to
be mobile telephones constructed in similar fashion, the construction of
one of the telephones 12 being shown in FIG. 2. Each of the telephones 12
comprises a microphone 18, a speaker 20, an aerial or antenna 22, a
transmitter 24 connected to the microphone 18, a receiver 26 connected to
the speaker 20, and a diplexer 28 interconnecting the transmitter 24 and
the receiver 26 to the antenna 22. Also included in the telephone 12 is a
controller 30 which operates in concert with a computer 32 for controlling
operation of the transmitter 24 and the receiver 26. The telephone 12 is
shown, by way of example, as an analog type of mobile telephone, it being
understood that the invention can be practiced also with the digital type
of mobile telephone. Various functions of the controller 30, such as
initiation of transmission or reception of a message, are well known, and
need not be described in further detail herein. Connecting with the
computer 32 are a program memory 34, a memory 36, and a number assignment
module (NAM) 38 which may be constructed as a part of the memory 36, if
desired. Also, in accordance with the invention, the mobile telephone 12
includes a phantom calling-number decoder 40 connected between the
receiver 26 and the computer 32, the function of the decoder 40 to be
explained hereinafter in conjunction with a memory 41 storing phantom
calling numbers.
As shown in FIG. 1, the activation unit 16 comprises a computer 42, and a
modem 44 which serves to interconnect the computer 42 with the central
station 14. A memory 46 storing available calling numbers, and a memory 48
storing authenticated electronic serial numbers (ESN) are connected to the
computer 42 for providing information of available calling numbers and
authenticated ESN to the computer 42. Also connected to the computer 42 is
a memory 50 which stores a glossary of reserved calling numbers, or
phantom calling numbers suitable for communication on a paging channel in
each of the respective telephones 12. The phantom numbers are not to be
utilized as calling numbers for any one of the telephones 12. In
accordance with the invention, the phantom calling numbers are utilized
for encoding a message transmitted by the computer 42 via the central
station 14 to the telephones 12. The encoding of the message with the
phantom calling numbers is accomplished by an encoder 52 which is operated
by the computer 42, and interconnects the memory 50 with the modem 44.
In the operation of the system 10 and with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, one
of the telephones 12 is able to initiate communication with a second of
the telephones 12 by transmitting the calling number to the central
station 14. Each of the telephones 12 has a control channel through which
signals are communicated for initiating telephone communication, and the
performance of other functions such as those employed during a hand-off
from one telephone cell to another telephone cell. Included within the
control channel is a paging channel for communication of the calling
numbers. Initiation of the communication is accomplished by use of the
transmitter 24 which transmits a calling number via its paging channel,
the calling number being suitably modulated onto a carrier to be coupled
via the diplexer 28 to the antenna 22. The carrier signal is radiated by
the antenna 22 along a wireless communication link 54 to the central
station 14.
The paging channel is adapted, in a well-known fashion, to communicate the
calling numbers. Upon receipt of a calling number by the second telephone
12 from the control station 14, the paging channel of the receiver channel
26 recognizes the presence of a calling number. Each signal carrying a
calling number is decoded by the decoder 40 and applied to the computer 32
whereby the calling number is examined to determine whether the calling
number is directed to the second telephone 12 or to some other telephone
12. If the calling number is recognized as applying to the second
telephone 12, the second telephone 12 responds by a signal transmitted via
its control channel to initiate communication with the first telephone 12.
Operation of the controller 30 and the computer 32 is accomplished by use
of instructions stored in the program memory 34, while the memory 36 is
employed in the various data processing steps performed by the computer 32
and the controller 30 in the operation of a mobile telephone 12. The
communication of speech between two of the telephones 12 is accomplished
via the voice channel in their respective transmitters 24 and the
receivers 26. The foregoing description of the initiation of operation of
the system 10 to establish a voice communication link between two of the
telephones is brief and simplified because such system operation is well
known and need not be further described herein for an understanding of the
invention.
In accordance with the invention, it is recognized that communication via
the paging channel of the calling number can be accomplished between a
transmitter 24 of a telephone 12 and the central station 14 even prior to
assignment of a specific calling number to the telephone 12. This is in
contrast to communication via the voice channel which requires that
telephones be assigned calling numbers whereby one telephone can designate
the other telephone with which it is to communicate. The activation
process, whereby a telephone becomes capable of operation within the
system 10, may include also billing and other monitoring functions in
addition to the assignment of a calling number.
The activation unit 16 is responsive to all calling numbers and ESN. Thus,
a specific telephone 12 desiring activation transmits, via its paging
channel, the calling number of the activation unit 16. The calling number
is transmitted via the central station 14 to the activation unit 16 to
initiate communication of a paging message. Included within the paging
message to the activation unit 16 is the ESN of the specific telephone 12.
Also transmitted on the message to the activation unit 16 is a request for
the activation unit 16 to issue a calling number to the specific telephone
12.
In the operation of the activation unit 16, the paging-channel request for
a calling number is received at the computer 42 via the modem 44. The
computer 42 responds to the request for a calling number by comparing the
ESN of the specific telephone 12 with all ESN stored in the memory 48 to
verify that the ESN of the specific telephone 12 is a valid ESN. By way of
example, in the case of a person purchasing or leasing a mobile telephone
at a dealer of telephones, the dealer communicates with the telephone
company which operates the system 10, and informs the telephone company of
the ESN of the telephone 12 which has just been purchased or leased. In
addition, the dealer informs the telephone company of credit and other
billing data which may be necessary for billing the telephone customer for
service provided by the system 10 to the customer. Upon receipt of this
information, the telephone company immediately enters the ESN of the
specific telephone 12 into the memory 48 to indicate to the computer 42
that the ESN of the specific telephone 12 is a valid ESN.
The telephone company also enters into the memory 46 all of the available
calling numbers which may be assigned to new telephones 12 upon their
activation. Thereby, upon receipt by the computer 42 of a request for
activation, the computer 42 is able to verify the ESN of the specific
telephone 12 received over the paging channel, this being accomplished by
comparing the ESN received via the paging channel with all ESN stored in
the memory 48. If a match is obtained, the ESN is valid. The computer 42
then selects one of the available calling numbers from the memory 46 to be
issued to the specific telephone 12.
Any of the telephones 12, whether activated or not yet activated, can
receive an incoming calling number via its paging channel. However, in the
case of an unactivated telephone 12, the unactivated telephone is unable
to respond to the reception of a calling number other than a phantom
calling number. In the case of the activated telephone, the activated
telephone can immediately verify whether the calling number is its own
calling number or the calling number of some other telephone.
In order to communicate an activation command message from the activation
unit 16 to the specific telephone 12, the outgoing command message from
the activation unit to the specific telephone 12 is encoded by encoding
each word of the command message with a phantom calling number from the
glossary of phantom numbers stored within the memory 50. The calling
numbers of the glossary differ from the numbers stored in the listing of
available calling numbers in the memory 46. Thereby, any one of the
phantom numbers can be transmitted via the system 10 without interfering
with the operation of the system 10 since there is no telephone 12 having
as its designated calling number one of the phantom calling numbers. As
will be described in further detail with reference to FIG. 4, the command
message includes both the assigned calling number and the ESN of the
mobile telephone 12 along with an indication, such as a start-of-message
(SOM) flag at the beginning of the message which informs the specific
telephone 12 that this is a command message commanding the telephone 12 to
receive its designated calling number.
With respect to the encoding of the command message with the phantom
calling numbers, it is noted that, by analogy with Morse code wherein dots
and dashes are employed to represent a specific letter of the alphabet,
herein one or more of the phantom numbers are employed to identify a
specific letter or word of the command message. Accordingly, in the
operation of the activation unit 16, the computer applies each word of the
command message to the encoder 52. The encoder 52 extracts from the memory
50 the appropriate calling number for encoding each of the respective
words of the command message, and outputs the command message to the modem
44 for communication via the central station 14 to all of the telephones
12.
At each of the mobile telephones 12 of the system 10, all incoming calling
numbers, received via the paging channel of the receiver 26, are applied
via the decoder 40 to the computer 32. The decoder 40 is operative in
conjunction with the memory 41 which also stores the phantom calling
numbers, so as to render the decoder 40 responsive to each of the phantom
calling numbers of the glossary in the memory 50. Any other calling number
not found in the glossary is rejected by the decoder 40. Rejected numbers
are understood to be normal calling numbers and need not be processed by
the computer 32 in an activation procedure. All such calling numbers,
exclusive of those in the glossary of the memory 50, are processed by the
computer 32 in the manner well known to the operation of cellular
telephone systems, such as the system 10. The processing by the computer
32 provides verification of whether the incoming calling number is
identical to the assigned calling number of the respective telephone 12.
Thereby, the computer 32 is able to process separately the valid calling
numbers which have been assigned to the respective telephones 12, and the
phantom calling numbers which are employed for activation of a telephone
12.
Upon reception of a phantom calling number via the paging channel of a
receiver 26, the decoder 40 decodes the phantom calling number as well as
succeeding calling numbers in the series of phantom calling numbers which
constitute the command word. The decoded command word is applied via the
decoder 40 to the computer 32. The computer 32 responds to the command
message by comparing the ESN of the command message with the ESN of the
specific telephone 12. If the ESN are not the same, it is understood that
the command message is intended for some other telephone rather than the
specific telephone 12. Accordingly, the computer 32 rejects the command
message and no further action need be taken by the specific telephone 12
with respect to that command message. The ESN assigned to the specific
telephone 12 is stored in the program memory 34. However, in the event
that the incoming command message has an ESN which is identical to the ESN
stored in the memory 34, then the command message is directed to the
specific telephone 12. Accordingly, the computer 32 enters the calling
number of the command message into the NAM 38 to be stored permanently
therein as the assigned calling number for the specific telephone 12. The
specific telephone 12 is now activated and is able to respond to calling
numbers transmitted by other ones of the mobile telephones 12 for
initiating a voice communication.
FIG. 3 outlines the foregoing activation procedure. Storage of the
available calling numbers, as shown in the memory 46 of FIG. 1, is
indicated at block 56. The storage of the glossary of phantom calling
numbers, stored in the memory 50 of FIG. 1, is indicated at block 58 in
FIG. 3. The procedure begins at block 60 wherein the specific telephone,
for which activation is desired, calls the activation unit 16 (FIG. 1) and
transmits the ESN of the specific telephone to be activated. At block 62,
the activation unit checks the ESN to authenticate the ESN. In the event
that the authentication fails, and the ESN is not valid, then no
activation occurs as is indicated at block 64. However, in the event that
the ESN is valid, the procedure passes to block 66 wherein the activation
command message is prepared. Included within the command message is a
calling number from the supply of available calling numbers at block 56.
Also included in the command message is the ESN of the specific telephone
requesting activation.
The procedure passes to block 68 wherein the command message is encoded
with the phantom calling numbers provided by block 58. Then at block 70,
the command message is transmitted by the activation unit via the central
station to all the telephones via their respective paging channels. At all
the telephones, their respective decoders decode the phantom calling
numbers, as indicated at block 72. Subsequent to the decoding of the
command message, there is a check made in each of the telephones to
determine whether the ESN of the command message matches the ESN of each
of the respective telephones of the system. Then, at block 74, the
telephone with the designated ESN accepts the new calling number for
activation of the telephone.
FIG. 4 shows the construction of a command message issued by the activation
unit 16 (FIG. 1) for activating the specific mobile telephone 12 in
response to a request by the telephone 12 for a calling member. The
construction of the command message, as set forth in FIG. 4, is presented
by way of example, it being understood that other arrangements of the
bytes of the message may be employed in its construction. As shown in FIG.
4, the first byte SOM flag indicates the start of the message, and also
indicates that this is a command message providing instructions for
activating a telephone. The second through the fifth byte are reserved for
digits of the ESN. The sixth through the eighth byte, indicated by MIN,
are reserved for the digits of the calling number which is assigned to the
specific telephone. The ninth and the tenth byte are reserved for
subscriber identity data (SID) which identifies a telephone system area in
which the mobile telephone is generally located. The eleventh byte is
identified as FLAGS and is set aside for additional data which might
possibly be desired to be transmitted. The twelfth and the thirteenth byte
are preserved for a cyclic redundancy checksum (CRC) which is employed for
error correction in the transmission of the message, such error correction
being well known. The last byte is the fourteenth byte which is an end of
message (EOM) flag, and designates to the specific mobile telephone that
the command message has been completed. Each byte may be composed of eight
bits, or other convenient number of bits if desired.
The procedure of the invention is advantageous because it is operative with
existing software customarily utilized in mobile telephone systems. The
procedure can be conducted automatically without need for entry of any
user signals via a keyboard. By way of example, upon power-up of the
telephone 12, the computer 32 can search the NAM 38 (FIG. 2) to determine
if a calling number is present and, in the absence of a calling number
initiate the request for a calling number from the activation unit 16
(FIG. 1). The procedure of the invention is operable with telephone
systems operating in accordance with CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access),
TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), TACS (Total Access Communication
System as is used in the United Kingdom), and AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone
System as used in the United States). The assignment of the calling number
or MIN is accomplished by use of existing channels of the transmitter and
receiver in accordance with MACC (MIN Assignment on Control Channel).
As an example in the utilization of the procedure, an instruction card
included with the mobile phone might provide the following set of
instructions. The procedure would begin by requesting that the user plug
in the telephone charger. Thereupon, the telephone will display "please
wait". Subsequently, the telephone rings and, upon a pressing of the Send
Key by the user of the telephone, an operator will inform the user of the
phone number. The telephone is now suitably programmed and ready for use.
It is to be understood that the above described embodiment of the invention
is illustrative only, and that modifications thereof may occur to those
skilled in the art. Accordingly, this invention is not to be regarded as
limited to the embodiment disclosed herein, but is to be limited only as
defined by the appended claims.
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